Flier said there were a series of unseen, independent acts that led to the deaths of Zamora and Schreiber.

“He seems very remorseful, but, since day one, we still don’t think he committed this type of crime,” Flier said.

Prosecutors need to “be able to argue that there’s a close enough connection between whatever this young man did behind the wheel of the car and these two women ending up dead, that you can say there’s a legal nexus, that there’s a cause and effect,” CBS2/KCAL9 legal analyst Steve Meister said.

The 19-year-old is due back in court for a preliminary hearing on Dec. 19. He faces a maximum sentence of seven years in prison if convicted.